Would someone provide me clear instructions on how to adjust this paddle? I have the thin metal piece to set the gap, but don't clearly understand the steps to make the adjustments. As I face the key, there are two pairs of adjustments, the set toward the rear, and the set toward the front. Would someone describe the process? I don't have the company literature, nor can I find this info with a web search. I am way overdue to understand this. Thanks.

I run several Begali keys, but not the Sculpture. I IMAGINE (best guess kinda thing) that the adjustments are all similar. Looking at the online pic, I bet they are.

As you face the key like you are using it, the rear screws should adjust the tension or amount of force needed to move the lever. The forward screws should adjust the contact spacing or how far each lever needs to move before a character is formed.

With my keys, I like the tension to be rather high, so I screw them in most of the way. Of course, both sides are independent.

I then screw the contact space adjustments in until the key makes contact and starts to send character (don't do this over the air obviously. Just use an oscillator). I then SLOWLY back the knurled pieces out until the key stops sending.

I don't bother with the gap tool that Begali sends with the keys. Too wide.

After that, it is just a matter of adjusting the key for comfort. As I get tired and shaky (back injury), I sometimes open the contact gap up so as to prevent accidental key up.

Ultimately, the name of the game is to adjust it to how YOU like it to feel at the speed you most commonly work at. There is NO "factory setting"....all of us are physically different with different levels of fine motor skill and sensation. The "resistance" that you want to feel on the paddle and how far you move the paddle is very much personal. YRA likes very little space on the contacts and I prefer a little bit more..... just different strokes for different folks. When you are in a QSO try to objectively think about how you like or dislike the feel and movements you need to make to send.....then make a SMALL adjustment in either space or tension and see if you feel more comfortable. If you find you are making some particular type of error, like more dots than wanted, add a little tension and/or space and see if that helps. It may take a while before you get your key tweaked to your satisfaction.....that would be normal I think. The position of the key and angle of the paddles relative to your hand and arm also part of the equation. It seems to me that if you have a CW key properly adjusted to your needs and feel, once you get into a QSO, you should NOT ever "notice" the key or its feel....it will be just an "extension of your mind" as you send CW essentially effortlessly. An analogy is it should be like the seat on a motorcycle: if you are riding along and "notice" and find yourself thinking about how your butt and/the seat feels, it is NOT a good seat! If the seat is totally comfortable you will have no reason to notice it or think about it and spend your thoughts on other things. A good and properly adjusted CW key is pretty much the same way. Good luck.....

Thanks, guys. But my question, I think, goes more to the actual method to physically adjust the Begali dual paddle Sculpture. I'm beginning to think that the adjustments are so obvious to everyone that there may be something wrong with my unit. As I face the paddle, the two adjustments toward the rear of the device quite obviously adjust the spacing between the contacts. Those rear adjustments work fine. I gather, then, that the forward two must be designed to effect tension. But I can't feel any tension change to either of the forward screws when turned. And when one of the forward ones is fully turned in, it engages the note. Am I missing something something?

Looking at the excellent photographs on the Begali website, it's quite obvious that the two adjustments on the far end (the end away from your hand) are for contact spacing. That's exactly the reason why "...when one of the forward ones is fully turned in, it engages the note."

The two adjustments closer to your hand, therefore, must be the tension adjustments.

There will be a little difference, but nothing huge..... it will not get "really firm".....but I would think you could feel a difference between full hard and full soft.

Strongly suggest you contact Begali. I really, truly don't know of another ham radio company that is as customer friendly and supportive. I had a question or two about the Begali key I have....which I inherited from a very good ham friend, WA0AVA (SK). Didn't buy it from them....but they bent over backwards to help answer questions and even sent me some extra paddles in a different color FREE !! ....and, again, I did not buy the key !! I really felt like those people were my friends! Send them anemail and see if they have any guidance or suggest ways to measure tension difference. (I was thinking you could make some kind of "long lever" out of some thin piece of wire, plastic, etc. and see if you can visually see how much it bends when you push the paddle, etc....... there are probably much better ways and someone will point one out. You would need a very sensitive device to measure paddle pressure.)

I don't have a Sculpture, but have their Simplex model and can easily feel the difference when I adjust the tension, even a tiny amount. Maybe yours is defective somehow? But definitely contact Begali, they are good people.

Steve

Logged

I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming in terror like his passengers.

I've sent an email to Begali telling them that as I gradually tighten the tension adjustment, I can feel no change in the tension, until the screw is fully screwed in. Then the paddle locks down to no movement whatsoever.

Well, by hand is " not possible " to feel the difference about the magnetstension!You needed to have a pressure Gauge that shows you exactly how many pressureyou have to put for making the fingerpieces makes a dot or dash!

You can just "hear" the difference when you are sending very very fast andthe return is softer or harder, but it's a minimum feel and usually is notpossible to "Feel or Hear it" sooo easily!

I'd suggest you to go on Ebay and try to look for a Pressure Gauge , try iton your Sculpture key and you will see really the difference!

This is everything I can say you about this!The Paddle is checked more than 10 time before being shipped out.... butalways can happen something strange...Anyway, please, don't hesitate to contact me again for having any moreinformation and if I'd needed help I'm forwarding this email to our friendUlrich who will be able to help us better ( also because he speaks a betterEnglish! :-)

On my Begali Magnetic Pro, I can really only tell a difference between minimum tension and maximum when adjusting and pushing on the paddles; after many turns of the screw. However, after having it set and using it for weeks or months, then I can tell a difference of a little bit of tension. Fatigue or discomfort if the tension not right for me.

I tend to adjust tension so that it's just about right there, has a feel where the paddles move about like so, and so that it has a snap to it like that.

I have a magnetic pro and adjusted the whole thing by feel. I don't really see the point in adjusting the thing to a higher level than that. I set my spacing a bit further on the dah side, because my old key I learned on as a kid was slightly bent and I have always sent better when other keys were set up similarly. Mine works fine faster than I can send, I am good to about 40wpm

Based on the email I received by BEGALI to the effect that you can't easily feel the tension adjustment (quoted above), I splurged and bought a dynamometer on ebay from a guy in Italy, after I watched a YouTube video showing someone using one to adjust his paddle.

My concern has been that I make too many mistakes sending, and thought the cause may be partially because the paddle is poorly adjusted.

Well, the dynamometer arrived, and I adjusted the paddle with it. (There was a pretty substantial difference in the tension between the two before I adjusted them.) Surprisingly, and based only on a few hours with it thereafter, I think it has made a real improvement in my sending. Still too many mistakes, but I think they may have been reduced by half.

Would someone provide me clear instructions on how to adjust this paddle? I have the thin metal piece to set the gap, but don't clearly understand the steps to make the adjustments. As I face the key, there are two pairs of adjustments, the set toward the rear, and the set toward the front. Would someone describe the process? I don't have the company literature, nor can I find this info with a web search. I am way overdue to understand this. Thanks.

Dave

It's very simple. Turn both contact screws on the left and right side to where you are comfortable with them and then adjust the amount of magnetic tension. Presto! Your finished.Adjusting the Begali Sculpture Dual Paddle is not at all like adjusting a bug.

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